


Guided by Voices, It's You and Me

by KriegsaffeNo9



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, Heavy on Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Reality Subtext, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23419807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KriegsaffeNo9/pseuds/KriegsaffeNo9
Summary: Diana has a bad night... but Akko's here.
Relationships: Diana Cavendish/Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Comments: 8
Kudos: 95





	Guided by Voices, It's You and Me

**Author's Note:**

> As requested by Diana of Chill LWA.

["All I want is to believe in love." ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-m1jrM-MFA)\-- King Black Acid

* * *

The servants had retired to their quarters at eight in the evening. Diana had stretched and yawned and declared that she was well-ready for sleep as well at around 8:15. And so Akko was alone in her room next to Diana's, staring at the ceiling and wishing the place had wi-fi. After a while she decided that she was hungry and hiked out to the kitchen to get a snack. She swung open the door of the massive, ancient refrigerator, and in the harsh light and bitter cold (man, even Diana's fridge was cooler than her family's, pun not intended slash totally intended) she realized that she wasn't hungry, just bored.

And that she was alone, like a kilometer away from her room, in an ancient magic mansion in which she had nearly been killed a few times. She could walk past any door and out could flood a thousand zombies or haunted dolls or magic space zombies (where did that thought come from...?).

Well, Akko thought, let's handle this.

And so she marched through the halls whistling to herself. Whistling keeps monsters away, right?

"Totally," Akko said, and kept-a-movin', past doors that could've disgorged monsters but instead just sort of stayed shut because there was nothing behind them. Or just sleepy people sleeping or getting ready for bed. Or boxes, maybe.

That's the ticket. Her mama told her once that people could scare themselves all day, it was the easiest thing in the world to do. The trick, she said, was learning which fears were just your brain trying to scare you and teaching them to back down. What was it that famous pink miniature horse said?

\--wait.

She was almost back to her room now, and the lapse in concentration led to a lapse in whistling which led to her ears detecting a sound. Just above the gentle rush of blood in her ears was an agonized whimper--  
\--coming from Diana's room.

She crossed the distance in three leaping steps, seized the doorknob, and found it unlocked. Which was nice, because she was going to barrel through it if it was locked.  
Diana was not in her bed; Diana was at her vanity. She wasn't doing her makeup; she was face down on the desk, arms crossed just over her head, sawing her fingers into the base of her thumb. Bright red streaks dribbled to the table below.

Oh no.

"Diana!" Akko said.

Diana let out a held breath in a choking, unfocused sob, and said nothing.

"Oh no you don't," Akko said, vaulting over the bed with a grace she could never accomplish with conscious effort and tucking and rolling on the other side, hopping to her feet at the perfect point to lift Diana off of the vanity's seat and set her on the ground. She didn't know why, but it felt right to do.

Diana's face was blotchy, soaked with tears, her whole body thrown into the act of weeping. "...go..." she whimpered. "...just... go..."

"Not on your life." Akko went for her wand, remembered it was in her room, and looked around. Wand, wand, wand, wand--

There was a trio of old-ass wands hanging from the wall. She went for one, flicked it out and felt that essential connection of intent to arm. First aid spell, first aid spell...

She took Diana's left hand and raised it. Diana didn't resist. She pressed the wand just above the wound; Diana uncurled her fingers at last. Akko took a deep breath and said: " _Allesfur dieliebe_."

It took more juice than necessary with the old, inefficient wand, but the deep scratches sealed up with a soft green glow.

"Other hand, Di."

After a moment, Diana lowered her hand from Akko's grasp and held out the other.

Akko cast the spell again. The wounds closed. Her hands were still bright with spilled blood. Diana's expression was still miserable, and her wheezy breathing had an added choking sniffle.

"Come on," Akko said, picking her up with the effort of righting a fallen doll. "We gotta wash your hands."

* * *

Diana had her own bathroom. It was still warm and misty, smelling like floral soap. She set down Diana in front of the sink and fiddled with the taps 'til some pleasantly warm water got flowing. "Cool. Alright, Diana, can you take it from here?"

Diana looked at her hands, at the sink, and at Akko.

"I don't know if the PMDA want me to wash someone else's hands, but I will if you're needing it. Okay?"

Diana shifted her gaze from Akko to her feet. "Mothergod..." she said.

"It's cool if you need me to," Akko said. "It's... I'm feeling like this is a weird situation. Is it?"

Silently, Diana ran her hands under the water, watching the congealing blood sluice away into the drain. Then at last she pumped liquid soap from a fancy metal soap dispenser and lathered up her hands with surgical precision and plentiful slowness.

Akko stepped back, giving her some room. "There you go. There you go! You got this!"

Diana dried her hands and turned off the water. "...thank you," she muttered. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

"Whaaaaaat," Akko said, faux-shocked, "it's not--I actually don't know what the hell this is, but 'inconvenient?' Naaah. You saved me from getting bitten the heck outta by a bunch of snakes, I can get you out of Scratchytown."

Diana considered her next words. "You said 'hell' and then 'heck.' It's just a little strange to me that you dialed back on your swear-word intensity."

"Hey, I'm still learning to cuss in English," Akko said. "I just go with what sounds right." She held out her hand. "Wanna take this back to the bed? ...rrrroom? That wasn't--"

Diana put her finger on Akko's mouth.

"That was a very good pickup line," Diana said, softly. "Let's take it to the bed."

"Cool," Akko said, smiling wide and blushing a litle.

* * *

Diana lay on her bed, over the covers. Akko lay down next to her, sinking in to the soft bed and softer pillows. Man, this was kind of crazy-soft. Just a little more firm than quicksand, Akko thought.

Diana breathed out. "Thank you, Akko."

"No problem, Diana," Akko said. She felt for Diana's hand, and Diana took it, grasping tight, conspicuously angling her nails away from Akko's skin. "I'm just glad we got it sorted out."

A moment of silence.

"It is sorted, right...?"

"For now," Diana said. She shifted her head against Akko's, nesting in her straight, smooth hair. Diana's own silky curls tickled Akko's cheek.

She felt like asking what that was all about. She wondered if it was okay, or if Diana didn't want to think about it, or if she should ask so Diana could think about it with her new girlfriend nearby and, like, come to some sort of--

"I'm scared, Akko," Diana said. Her hand tightened around Akko's.

Akko turned to look at her and found she was doing the same. Her eyes shone with welled tears.

"Scared of what?" Akko said. Maybe it'd help.

Diana spoke a few half-formed answers, stalling on the first syllable each time, before she settled at last on "...everything." She shivered violently, her hand slipping out of Akko's and wrapping around her midsection. "Everything scares me, Akko. At all times. Nothing is safe and everything is changing, and nothing feels like it's changing for the better. We saved the world, Akko... and nothing is getting better."

Silence.

"Well..." Akko said. "When you put it like that, I'm terrified too."

"No speech?" Diana said, with a shy smile.

"I'm gonna need a little warmup for one," Akko said. "Because, yeah. I'm feeling that. Hashtag mood. As the man once said, that painting looks the way I feel." She sat up, scooting until her back was against the headboard. There was another interval of silence; there was too much to talk about, too much to consider, to just start speaking her mind as usual. She had a gut feeling that if she did she'd just freak Diana out again, and herself on top of it, and that could end well for nobody.

Alright... here's something.

"I wish that one thing we did could've, liked... made everything better," Akko said. "But, well, just finding the Shiny Rod didn't make everything better all at once. Heck, that was kind of the point, wasn't it? You don't just grow up overnight after one big change. It takes time, it takes... learning." She scratched behind her ear. "I had a lot to go 'til I could use the last Word. I probably still have a lot to go, like, as a person, to... do... stuff. I guess that's true for everybody. Especially if you count the world as a person."

Diana sat up too. She nodded, gestured for her to go on.

Akko chased the thread of her thoughts: "So... things are scary. Things are always gonna be scary. Because it's never really 'the end,' right? You stop a story where it'd be a good place to stop, but life just keeps going on so long as there's life. Maybe we didn't solve everything just by bringing magic back and shooting down the nuke, but we did something really good, and really cool, and there's a lot of people around to be scared who wouldn't be if we didn't do something.

"And the story's not over, so... we're not over, either. And we don't just have to knuckle up and beat all the world at the same time. We can pick our battles, do the most good... you know, like how you gotta learn to talk fish before you can exorcise a ghost, and you gotta get saved by Santa before you can cure your buddies from that Creepshow disease."

Diana blinked heavily. "What was that about Santa?"

"Later," Akko said, with a dismissive wave. "Important thing: stuff's scary, but we can make it better. So if you're ever freaking out and you really need somebody to help, you got me. Remember: P _hasansheer Shearylla_."

"'Connect with other people...'" Diana said, "...'and your dreams will grow.'" She touched Akko's face; Akko could feel a too-smooth, slippery patch where she had inexpertly healed up the scratches. "Thank you."

"Any time," Akko said.

Diana kissed her, gently; not exuberantly, not with wild passion, but with steady warmth. A kiss that felt like home.

Akko took Diana's face in her hands as well, and when at last they had to part for breath, Akko rest her forehead against Diana's. Diana was red-hot; she could feel her pulse. Her breathing was steady, practiced, not a naturally easy breath. She slid one hand down to Diana's shoulder, squeezing firmly, and from there put her hand on her back and turned the forehead-touch into a hug. Akko liked to think she was great at hugging before the return of magic; now she could hug like a titan god of hugging. In her warm yet steely grasp there could be no danger.

"I believe in you, Akko," Diana said, in a harsh whisper.

"I believe in you, too," Akko said. "We got this. We totally got this."

"I love you."

"I love you. And I'll always love you. It's alright to be scared... but you never have to be scared of me. I promise."

No words for that; no words necessary. They rested in each other's arms, warm and safe.

The night was long, but now it would be warm.

* * *

"[It was all for love.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd23T-1SDeo)" -- Gunship


End file.
